The Youth Code A new adaptaion by stephanie Saal
by Hunger4Games
Summary: Smith and Snake had the door of its hinges in two seconds with two short ranged shotgun blasts, cracking the ice covering the wall from the blast. and then came back as he raised his scope, seeking fields of fire, surveying the scene...


THE YOUTH CODE

PROLOGUE

Burnt Mountain Viral Research centre,

100 Kilometres north of Fairbanks, Alaska

Daytime at Burnt Mountain was a cold, grainy, Alaskan twilight. It was snowing, gently now, but it was clear that overnight falls had been much heavier. The wind whipped down the mountainside into the valley, whirling the snow into a white flurry. Every now and again the sun would peek through the twilight fog, only to be blanketed by the hazy snow. The air itself seemed to crackle with ice.

There was little that could survive Burnt Mountain in midwinter. Not man, nor beast, not even the smallest of creatures; insect, microbe, virus. Jack 'Stony' Crowe wiped snow from the faceplate of his armoured bio suit. He shifted his eyes from the gray haze of the sky back to his telescopic sights of his Heckler & Koch XM7, scanning the snow covered roofs of the complex buildings below. Even softened by the falling snow, the complex held a palpable menace .At the centre was a large industrial looking building that could have been mistaken for a factory. Four long, narrow wings extended from each corner of the building. Tall twin spiked security fences snaked along the outside of the entire compound, hanging heavy with their crop of snow, but the gates were strangely, ominously open. Sergeant Sam 'Snake' Sanderson crawled into Crowe's vision, quietly keeping low to the ground.

Crowe keyed his throat mike, "Perimeter team, all clear?"

"Nothing moving but the snow", a quiet voice replied.

"Okay, move 'em out". As he spoke, he gave a small movement with his hand.  
Silently, they snaked down the hill, the white bio-suits blending in with the snow. They went through the snow covered gate, eerily squeaking in the whirling snow.

Crowe keyed his mike. "Perimeter team?"

"Still all clear, you are good to go".

"Do it!"

Smith and Snake had the door of its hinges in two seconds with two short ranged shotgun blasts, cracking the ice covering the wall from the blast. Manderson moved through, with Crowe on his heels. His vision clouded for a second, from the darkness outside to the harsh fluorescent lights, and then came back as he raised his scope, seeking fields of fire, surveying the scene. What he expected to find was definitely not what he anticipated.

A lab technician's clothes were laid out in the reception chair, almost neatly, with only a few creases.

No, Crowe thought with a jolt, there was still a body in there, only smaller. He nodded to Smith, who cautiously walked over to the body. He poked the body with the end of his rifle, only to be shocked when a shrunken corpse dropped off the chair.

Three of the men raised their scopes, sensing danger. Crowe signalled to halt. He crouched over the body, checking the face and chest. The whole face had shrivelled in, the mouth disappearing into a small hole with wrinkles surrounding it. The eyes had sunk into the face, with the skin shrivelling and turning black around the edge of what could have been the nose.

"What the hell?" asked Smith.

"Maybe some new virus got loose", suggested another soldier.

"Sir, you must come look at this", Manderson keyed in on his mike. Crowe stood up and walked through the next door, gasping at what stood in front of him.

It was as if a fairytale had appeared, written out of some magical book. The walls and desks were covered with a thin sheet of ice, giving it a crystal palace feeling. More scientist clothes were spotted on the floor. "Sprinklers", Manderson drawled, glancing up at the black poles in the ceiling. "Looks like a fire happened, that's what caused all the ice."

Crowe looked at Team 2, quietly inspecting more shrunken bodies. "What happened?"

"I dunno", Manderson replied, "But does it remind you of something?".

Crowe stared out of the window, glancing onto the valley below. "Novosibirsk"? Crowe shot back with an edge of fear in his voice.

"That's what I thought too".


End file.
